Suspect arrested in Baker "deliveryman" shooting

BAKER - Police arrested a man who detectives said claimed to be delivering a package to a Baker home in order to rob the people living there, and ended up shooting one of them.

Police charged 17-year-old Keddrick Augustus with attempted murder and other charges after his arrest Tuesday.

Baker Police Chief Mike Knaps said on March 12 his officers were called out to a home on Harding Street for a reported shooting. Officers said the victim, a 69-year-old man, told them someone knocked on his door and said they were a deliveryman. When the victim opened the door he said the man pointed a gun at him and demanded money. The victim said he slammed the door shut, and the man shot him twice through the door.

Investigators said they found shell casings around the outside of the house and a witness told them they saw a man running from the scene toward Chapeau Drive after the shots were fired. On March 16 police said they were patrolling the same area when they detained Augustus after officers found a concealed gun on him. Detectives said the gun's ammunition was the same type as the casings from the shooting scene, and the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab confirmed Tuesday that the two were a match in ballistics tests.

Investigators said Augustus admitted to them he was at the victim's home and had the gun on the day of the shooting, but denied he had anything to do with it.

Augustus was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish jail on charges of attempted murder, attempted armed robbery, aggravated criminal damage to property, and illegal use of a weapon.